Alzheimer's Disease is one of the most common dementia among older adults. As many as 5.3 million people in the United States are living with Alzheimer's, with that number expected to grow to 14 million by 2050. ALS is one of the most common neuromuscular diseases for which there is currently no cure.
Cancer is a leading cause of death around the world, according to the World Health Organization. Cases of cancer doubled globally between 1975 and 2000, will double again by 2020, and will nearly triple by 2030. There were an estimated 12 million new cancer diagnoses and more than seven million deaths worldwide this year.
Substance abuse is a significant health problem in the USA, as well as in other countries, and is estimated to cost society over 1 billion dollars per year. There are currently very limited pharmacotherapies to treat substance abuse.
Sigma receptors are transmembrane proteins expressed in many tissues and have been implicated in, for example, cardiovascular function, substance abuse, and cancer. Many known sigma receptor ligands lack either sigma subtype selectivity or general selectivity.
It is desirable to have new therapeutics effective at treating these diseases. Provided herein are solutions to these and other problems in the art.